6th Sunday of Easter
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
Written by Mike Cleary
Have you ever attended a larger Mass at a big Catholic event where multiple dioceses are represented? Maybe it was an Archdiocesan Ordination or Chrism Mass. Maybe it was a convention or conference. You may have even had the blessing to attend a World Youth Day celebration. There is something special about coming together, with people you have never met, to all worship God in the same way through the celebration of the Mass.
And sometimes, if I am honest, going to the same Sunday Mass every single Sunday can get old. Worshipping with the same people can become less exciting than maybe a larger gathering. Yet, the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that “All nations form but one community.” (CCC 842) One of the many blessings about the Liturgy is that it gathers people from every nation, to praise God in the same way, regardless of location, every single time the Mass is celebrated.
Psalm 67:3-4 declares that God wants all nations to praise Him; not just us by ourselves. Here we are reminded that the Church is Catholic. The Church is Universal. (CCC 830)
One of the first recorded times that the word “catholic” was used to describe the Church was by St. Ignatius of Antioch in a letter he wrote to the Smyrnaeans. In this letter he said, “Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church.” Every human heart yearns for God - young and old, rich and poor, people from different countries and cultures. It is a universal yearning and a universal answer, Jesus. Jesus dwells in the Church.
We don’t have to wait until the next World Youth Day to worship alongside other nations; we do this every Sunday when all of the nations come together, regardless of location, to praise God. May all the nations praise Him indeed!
How have you experienced the Church as universal? How can you continue to experience the universality of the Church every week, even if you never leave home?
Mike Cleary is a High School Youth Minister at a Catholic parish in Sugar Land, TX, where he and his wife Raquel live with their daughter, Felicity. Follow Mike on Instagram.
Pray with today’s psalm.